Prefabricated units are synonymous of economy and speed in dwelling construction. Because transportation will result in additional time and charges, mostly depending on the scheduling and fees of freight companies, import duties, insurance rates, and other charges due to inadequate communication facilities, prefabricated units should be manufactured of an inexpensive raw material locally available in abundant supply, within a reasonable distance from the installation site, to be set in place by an unskilled laborer without the introduction of sophisticated technology and heavy equipment beyond the real capacities of each geographical location, thus meeting the essentials of prompt delivery, easy installation, and low cost requirements. The present invention meets the aforementioned principles.
In essence, the present invention deals with a prefabricated panel and a system for utilizing a plurality of the panels in building construction wherein the basic panels utilize different waste material as its main component. Available mostly anywhere in unlimited amounts, waste material may be found in factories and processing plants willing to pay for transportation to dumping sites thus making it possible to manufacture a rather inexpensive panel, which otherwise is not feasible to accomplish with customary building products such as steel, aluminum, gypsum board, drywall, concrete and others that in many cases are either very costly or not obtainable.
In the system the prefab panel is utilized as an exterior weatherproof wall or as an interior partition housing an independent, concealed structural rigid frame, capable of supporting a multi-story building and meeting the most demanding requirements, including the extreme limits of any seismic code. The concealed structural elements will act as waterproof connector means to join the abutting ends of adjacent panels, by interconnecting the two parallel sides of the panels. In addition to exterior walls and interior partitions the panels may be used as roofing panels and for a variety of architectural purposes.
The present invention includes a prefabricated panel to be utilized in a building construction wherein the panel is composed of a (1) main molded porton of suitable waste material bound together by a suitable carrier, such as a polymer in a slab form that is in a paralleleipedal shape with parallel top, bottom and parallel side surfaces connected together on opposite sides of a main inner and main outer planar surface and there are shafts of open cell expandable material embedded in the main portion and parallel to the side surfaces extending between the top and bottom surface between the planar surfaces which are inserted during the molding process.
In use, the panels are utilized as non-load bearing members in the sense that they do not carry gravity loads and the panels are utilized to span the load bearing members of a rigid building form and the panels are utilized as exterior and interior walls for the skeletal framework only acting as a diaphragm transferring lateral loads to the foundation. The building's rigid frame is capable of supporting a multi-story building and meeting demanding requirements of building codes and the vertical members are of H-shaped cross section extending vertically outwardly of the panels for interconnection with the other rigid skeletal framework members. The concealed structural elements also act as waterproof connector means to adjoin abutting side surfaces of adjacent panels extending perpendicularly of the side surfaces and into the inserts wherein the enlarged portions of the connector means are positioned. The panels may also be used not only as walls but as roofing panels and for a wide variety of architectural purposes.
One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated panel for building construction which utilizes an inexpensive lightweight waste material including sawdust, rice-straw, remains of sugar cane, cardboard, paper, and other inexpensive products as its main component, acting as a filler mixed with a suitable binder or a base such as P.V.C. polyethylene, epoxies, cement, starch, etc. to form a polymer that may be casted together with cylindrical sections of a different compound of an open cell network of displaceable expandable characteristics, such as polyurethane, polysterene, and other foam plastics placed at different intervals and extending between the ends of the panels to receive the house concealed structural members and conduits and that the polymer can be supplemented with other fillers suchas ground asbestos to make a compound that resists burning, ground quartz or mica to make it hard, and other aggregates to make it consistent with product needs and requirements.
Another principal object of this invention is to provide a prefabricated panel and construction system which may be constructed of a variety of lightweight molding compounds made of waste material which will be easy to handle and set in place and interconnect to an adjoining panel by an individual laborer, and that may be consistent with product needs and requirements to enhance several properties including but not limited to the manufacture of a panel that may be noncorrosive, moisture proof, fire retardant, insect repellant, that may accept screws, pop rivets, and nails with a perfect grip, and other characteristics not unifiable in prefabricated panels made of metal, wood, concrete or gypsum products.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a prefabriated panel and construction system in which the panel may be cut in dimensions other than its modular size, maintaining its original properties, and allowing for versatility of design by providing irregular size fillers that may be interconnected to adjoining panels, whereby all exterior joints may be filled, repaired and covered with the proper cement compount, and providing for all exterior surfacing of the walls to bear the same finish.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a prefabricated panel and construction system in which the panel may bear a permanent color by adding a pigment or a dye to the molding compound, and that it may be manufactured and assembled in a factory and all prefab conduits and ducts may be housed within the panel, and window openings may be cut to provide for a fast and simple installaton method at job site.
Another principal object of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated panel and construction system in which longitudinally extending cylindrical shafts are provided adjacent the side surface of an open cell network of displaceable foam material to receive conduits and ducts or to interconnect two panels when joined by a structural element as shown in the drawings.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated panel and construction system in which the panels may be interconnected by means of columns of length longer than the height of the panels to receive gravity load and permit factory errors in panels.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated panel and a system in which a wide variety of architectural finishes may be provided by the molding process, creating any desired pattern in the walls for aesthetic purposes and yet showing no exposure of metal structural members housed within the panel that otherwise may transmit thermal conditions to interior surfaces, allowing for all exterior walls to be uniformly coated in any conventional maner which is difficult to attain in metal and wood products.
Yet another principal object of this invention is to provide a prefabricated panel and construction system in which the panel may be utilized as a non-load exterior weatherproof panel, an interior panel, a horizontal floor panel, a roofing panel, and for a variety of other architectural purposes, housing an independent concealed structural rigid frame interconnecting adjacent coplanar panels and capable of supporting a multi-story building and meeting the most demanding requirements including the extreme limits of any seismic code, and reaching long spans not feasible with other prefab systems.
Another principal object of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated panel and construction system in which the concealed structural elements sized to engage between the confronting edges of two panels in a manner so as to prevent any relative longitudinal or lateral movement between the panels may act as waterproof connector means, as conduits and ducts, and as further means to interconnect the two parallel outer surfaces of the panel.
A still further principal object of the present invention is to provide a separate panel connector or column that may be formed from wood products or it may be roll formed from metal sheets, such as galvanized steel, aluminum, etc., into an H structural shape that will further serve as a waterproof connector means, and to interconnect the two parallel outer surfaces of the panels at a cheaper and simpler method than other prefab systems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated panel and construction system in which an effective method of construction may be accomplished by an unskilled laborer without introducing high technology and sophisticated methods beyond the capacity of a common individual.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a means to act as a cap and a base beam for the prefabricated panels when the same have been connected together by the waterproof connector means which is composed of a generally channel-shaped elongate member with ledges extending from the flanges of the members defining abutment surfaces for the panels and between the flanges of which the panels dwell and are captivated by suitable means spanning the flanges and extending through the panels, such as bolts and pop rivets. As shown in FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 of the drawings, it is seen that the construction has as an object the supporting of adjacent panels on the ledges and that the waterproof connector columns extend outwardly of the top and bottom surfaces of the panels respectively to a different level than the adjacent surface of the panel to support the structural cap or tie beam and thus the gravity load of the structure is carried by the waterproof connector columns and the tie beam structure.
In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: